We are so used to Rega products recieving multiple awards and great reviews that it's easy to become blase about it.
This new Planar 8 takes good reviews to a new level!
What Hifi says it has "stunning sound" and "pushed the boundaries of performance at this level"
The Ear said "it truly is a triumph of analogue audio engineering" and 7Review said "A superb turntable that delivers stunning performance across a huge swathe of different music".
These are so good I should just refer you to them, and I will at the end, but first here are my observations.
The first obvious thing is the shape. All mass is paired away to make the entire structure light and very rigid.
Form follows function not the other way round
The only weight is in the platter and even there it is placed at the outside to give maximum flywheel effect.
While it is a downside that you have no lid when actually playing records there is a dustcover supplied for when you're not. It doesn't worry me anyway as I don't use a lid, it's like a sail for airborne vibration.
You have a choice of two moving coils and a moving magnet from £ 1699 without a cartridge to a top line of £ 2439 with the metal bodied moving coil Apheta2. That's the one I've opened to lis ten to first paired with a Linn Selekt which is a one-box streamer amplifier with an excellent phono stage, both MM and MC, a cool £ 5500. I've also been impressed with the new Kef R3s recently, a mere £ 1300, so let's try these.
I am a bit of a jazzhead, as well as every other musichead some say, so I'm straight to a classic Blue Note album. Midnight Blue by Kenny Burrell is a great recording dating from 1963 by the legend that is Rudy Van Gelder, one of the greatest recording engineers of all time. Elvis Costello fans will also make the connection that the cover of his Almost Blue album is a homage to Midnight Blue.
This sounds superb on the Rega , tight, expressive, articulate and really giving you all of the character and wailing dynamics of Stanley Turrentine's tenor sax.
Change to the blues and Albert King's Honeybee. Great guitar playing coming to life.
The Planar 8 sounds just as good as it looks
A trip to the classic Lou Reed Walk on the wild side confirms that this turntable can play anything you throw at it.
If you don't have a moving coil input on your turntable Rega can sort this for £ 249. Or to make it much better again use the £ 798 Aria phono stage.
At £ 1900 with an Exact MM this is a steal, with a moving coil at £ 2100 or £ 2400 its even better!
Place your order now